Antin Infrastructure Partners acquires INICEA

12 April 2016

Antin Infrastructure Partners, one of Europe’s largest independent infrastructure investment firms, announces today that it has acquired a majority stake in INICEA, a leading group of French psychiatric clinics, from LFPI.

With 10 clinics representing almost 1,170 beds and day care places, INICEA is the leading private operator dedicated to psychiatric care in France. Founded in 1982 by Gilles Briquet and Dr. Alain Perroud, INICEA has developed a unique offer with a strong medical focus supported by 1,000 employees and 50 private psychiatrists under contract, and has become a reference in day care, care for adolescents in psychological difficulty and treatment of eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia) in France.

This operation follows previous social infrastructure investments such as Amedes (one of the German leaders in Laboratories) in 2015 and Westerleigh (second independent operator of Crematoria in the UK) in 2013. Social infrastructure represents one of the four sectors of Antin Infrastructure Partners’ investment strategy, together with Energy & Environment, Telecommunication, and Transportation.

Commenting on this transaction, Alain Rauscher, CEO and Managing Partner of Antin Infrastructure Partners, declared:

“We are glad to announce this partnership with INICEA and look forward to supporting the management team as they continue to develop the quality and breadth of their care services. As psychiatric care is a public health priority, we believe care services in this field increasingly need to be supported by adequate infrastructure”.

Angelika Schöchlin, the Senior Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners who led the transaction, added:

”We are proud to bring our expertise in social infrastructure to contribute to INICEA’s development and help the Group to further strengthen its leading position as a pure-player in a field that faces growing needs.”

Gilles Briquet, co-founder and President of INICEA, added:

“We are delighted that Antin Infrastructure Partners has decided to support us as we write a new chapter in the development of our Group. Their experience and strong track record as a leading independent investment firm will be most valuable to support the growth of our Group and will enable us to further expand our services for patients and for the mental healthcare community as a whole.”

Fabien Bismuth, President of LFPI Gestion, stated:

"We are thrilled to have supported Gilles Briquet and his teams in the transformation from a regional player consisting of 2 institutions at the time of our investment 6 years ago, into a national Group composed of 10 institutions. The Group is now a leader in private independent psychiatry, with a number of projects for development. We are convinced that Antin Infrastructure Partners will also be an excellent partner to continue accompanying INICEA and its teams to provide an efficient response to high needs to come in the psychiatric market during a new phase of development for the INICEA Group."

The transaction is subject to approval from the French competition Authority.

Antin was advised by Case Corporate Finance (M&A Advisory), KPMG (Financial and Commercial), Paul Hastings (Legal), Fidal (Tax), Parella (Real estate) and Ariane Santé (Commercial).

LFPI Gestion was advised by UBS (M&A Advisory) and Archers (Legal).